The future of the Bend Bus System is under the microscope and the Bend City Council could hear proposed changes in March.

Scott Aycock, a Transportation Planner with the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, who is working with the Bend Metropolitan Planning Organization, says they are already looking at some long term changes that would increase bus usage in the future. "There’s some neat opportunities as far as partnerships, in terms of what's happening in the City of Bend, particularly in the growth around the possibility of a 4-year OSU Cascade Campus. All of these kinds of things drive additional needs for transit but also opportunities to partner."

Aycock says they are also looking at amending a couple of routes that would serve St. Charles Medical Center or even creating a new route just for people to get to St. Charles.

He says another possibility is: in the future Bend residents could be asked to vote on a Transit District Tax.